I managed to get out fishing on Tuesday and Thursday this week. It was pretty chilly both days, but Thursday sunshine warmed it up a bit in the afternoon. Fishing was tough. Tuesday’s wind kept me from being able to fish some of my lower lake spots. I managed to catch nine bass, the best of which weighed 3.62 pounds. Some of the morning water surface temperature was just 51 degrees. That’s getting close to winter water.

Two days and one cold front later, on mid lake, there was again lots of 51 degree water, and for most of the day, the bite was even tougher. Early afternoon, I had only managed to catch two bass, and no other fish at all. With the sun warming things up a bit later, I managed another seven bass the last couple of hours of fishing. Best bass of the day was a 4.46 pounder. As I type this Sunday night, the forecast is for a hard freeze tonight with lows in the 20’s, so I’m thinking winter fishing has arrived. I’m still going to fish for bass some, but crappie fishing may be my mainstay for the next couple of months.

Thursday’s 4.46 pound bass.

It was another good week of Cedar Creek bass fishing last week. I went on Wednesday and Friday, the lower lake Wednesday and mid lake Friday. With all the cooler weather we’ve had lately, the surface temperature had fallen to 54 degrees by Friday. I caught 16 bass Wednesday and 14 bass on Friday. My best fish were 4 pounders on both days, a 4.62 on Wednesday and a 4.42 on Friday. I caught a bunch of other chunky fish on Friday, including 3.72, 3.52, and 3.26 pounders. Cedar Creek just has a lot of healthy, chunky black bass this year. They do put up a great fight, especially on the finesse tackle I’m using.

Just like last year, with the water surface temperature now in the mid 50’s, I’m catching a lot more bass on rocks, and a lot fewer on boat docks. It’s a really noticeable movement of the fish. I watch that lake surface temperature pretty closely this time of year. As long as it stays above 50 degrees, bass fishing will remain decent, but once it gets below 50 degrees, bass fishing can be very tough. The Ned rigs I’m using are very good cold water baits though, and I’m going to keep fishing them some this winter when the water gets that cold, to see if I can improve my winter technique. You have to fish the baits so slowly when the water’s that cold though, that you can’t cover much water, so you need to be very good about picking your spots, if you are to catch much. I’m sure I’ll chase the crappie quite a bit this winter too, though. With the lake this low, crappie fishing will be tougher too, but the winter crappie bite is usually a lot better than the winter bass bite. Just when the water will get that cold remains to be seen, and depends on the weather during a particular winter, but I would expect it to fall into the 40’s by late this month, or early January. We’ll see.

Wednesday’s best bass, a 4.62 pounder.

And Fridays best, weighing 4.42 pounds.